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Gameplay Wishlist: WotLK travel guide
Our recent in-depth look at the flood of information concerning World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion gave us some cause for speculation. Specifically, the news about the multiple-rider mounts has given us an intriguing idea for a new way to make money in-game.There are two levels to this idea, and they both revolve around players who don't have access to high-speed mounts of their own. One briefly wonders why this change in transportation was implemented, but only briefly. Once the possibilities become clear, there will undoubtedly arise new uses for the piggyback functionality that are still somewhat nebulous at this stage. With no further ado, our ideas after the jump.
About the Bloggers: moo Money
Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.What do you do for WoW Insider?I write the daily machinima posts for both WoW Insider, and its broader MMO sister site, Massively.What's your main right now?This won't make me very popular, but I actually don't really play WoW. I did for a while after it came out, but I'm not a very good grinder and it just got lonely.This is an outrage! How dare you write about WoW without playing it?That's actually a really good question. I got my start in machinima roughly two years ago when I was hired to promote it in Second Life, an oft-mocked virtual world. Through experimentation with machinima, as well as the education that I provided to others, I became known as one of the "It" people for machinima in SL. When Second Life Insider folded into Massively in November 2007, I volunteered to write the daily Cinemassively. After about 45 days straight of blogging them, WI asked me to do the same for WoW Moviewatch!Read on to find out more about the Notorious M.O.O. ...
Survey: Religion and Second Life -- part 2
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Manhattan College in NYC Robert Geraci has continued his survey of religious practices and opinions as they relate to Second Life, which was first given some coverage in the Second Life Insider. This new survey is slightly longer, but can be completed in under 5 minutes. Preliminary results from the first survey were informative, according to Mr. Geraci, and he's hoping for a greater turnout for this one, so do help him out!Most startling statistic from the first survey, to us: 20% of the community would consider SL an attractive alternative to earthly life if they could have their minds uploaded into it. Really? Are you ready to deal with crippling lag, serious unexpected destabilization, and -- *shudder* -- copybots? Here's an interesting theological debate: what happens to your soul when the grid goes off-line?[Thanks, Robert!]
Cinemassively: Virtual strike of IBM by employees yields real results
I came across a video today that didn't blow me away technically. The aspect ratio changes throughout, the UI is on, and it might have been edited in Windows Movie Maker. However, I couldn't take my eyes off of this video because it made a difference.In September 2007, Second Life Insider blogged that Italian IBM workers were using Second Life to protest a proposed pay cut. Little was known about the strike at the time, except that those interested should download a strike kit and carry on peacefully on their own time. In a video released yesterday in multiple languages, they explain what went on, why they did it, and what the results were.Read on for more details about the strike ...
Cinemassively: Second Life Golf, Lesson One
It's hard to believe that golfing is over a year and a half old in SL. Second Life Insider covered the phenomenon that was sweeping the grid back in July 2006. Rumor has it that even Philip Linden enjoyed a game or two!However, there is a bit of a learning curve to golfing. It requires a HUD, golf balls, a club, and a working knowledge of all three. It looks like MarkTwain White is aiming to solve that problem by releasing a series of tutorials on Second Life golf. Lesson one focuses on how to get started. If you dug the tutorial and think you might like to give it a try, you can check it out in Hollywood.
Cinemassively: CSI New York Mystery Game #1
When the CSI:NY episode featuring Second Life came out in October, Second Life Insider offered extensive coverage of not only the commercials, but also the mystery games. Now, CBS is releasing their own teaser trailer for one of the mysteries. Having scaled down their islands due to lowered traffic, one wonders if they're trying to milk one last visit out of you.However, with that said, the Machinima is thoroughly entertaining. They offer up snippets of clues to reel you in, as well as highlight a bit of the process. If you haven't checked out the four-sim clusters of CSI:NY goodness, now would be the time!
Second Life Insider still ranks, even though it's technically dead
As of 12:30 AM, Saturday, December 8th, 2007, secondlifeinsider.com is ranked the #6 Top Second Life Blog on Sweet Second Life, behind luminaries Torley Linden's personal blog, Codebastard Redgrave's personal blog, Brutal Honesty, the Mean Girls Guide to SL, and at #1, The Official Linden Blog. And all this, despite the fact that the Second Life Insider has had no new content since Massively began!Honestly, I'm both pleased and puzzled by this. Sure, there's a metric f#$*-tonne of content in the archives, but the fact that Massively is nowhere on that 88-item-strong list probably means something. For all intents and purposes, Massively is the New Second Life Insider. We've just changed facades; the content is the same. So where's the Massively love? I'm going to just assume that because we cover MMOs of all stripes, we don't qualify as an SL-only blog. Sigh.In related news, both Our Tateru and Our Eloise's personal blogs are on that list as well, so go check 'em out!
On the Inside, Episode 20: Eureka Dejavu and Schmilsson Nilsson
Welcome to the twentieth episode of On the Inside, the podcast that lets you take a peek at the virtual world of Second Life! This episode features Eureka Dejavu, real life name Rita J. King, investigative reporter, blogger for the Huffington Post, and founder of Dancing Ink Productions; and Schmilsson Nilsson, real life name Joshua Fouts, Director of the Center on Public Diplomacy at the University of Southern California. In this episode, we discuss the Macarthur Foundation and their ongoing research into virtual worlds, the positive power of transformation, and Star Wars Galaxies. (Note: This interview was conducted on October 30th.)As always, I welcome your questions, comments, and suggestions for future topics/interviewees. Drop me a line!To hear all eighteen previous episodes, click here to access the Second Life Insider podcast archives.[Mp3] Download the MP3 directly
Cinemassively: Second Life Cable Network
It's been half of a year since Second Life Insider first covered the Second Life Cable Network. Since that time, they've expanded rapidly, growing into a full blown TV station. Their determination has set them apart from other video programs inside SL. I'll personally never forget them, because Starr Sonic poured glitter in my hair at the Second Life Community Convention. It took two people 20 minutes to pick it all out!SLCN offers a variety of programming for the audience. For the sports fanatics, they have sailing, hockey, SLASCAR racing, and snail racing. They also have weekly talk shows, streaming of live concerts, fashion shows, and on location reporting. In addition, they recently announced a shopping channel that will run 24 hours a day! These channels can be watched on their website or streamed into Second Life.Read on after the jump to find out more about SLCN ...
The Soloist: Why I do it
After this post, I had it in mind to think through why I prefer to solo, and whether the reasons why are valid ones, given that I'm playing in a genre meant to provide a social experience. I'm going to try to list as many reasons as I can think of in favor of grouping and playing with buddies, and provide a counter-argument if I can. Bear in mind, this is not me telling you that you should go solo; this is just me trying to 1) explain why I do it, and 2) understand for myself whether my reasons hold water.Enough said; excelsior!
Today in Second Life, Friday 2 November, 2007
Today in Second Life there was: 23,932 new signups bringing the total to 10,638,600 signups. A peak concurrency of 52,793 at 3:45PM, and a minimum concurrency of 25,544 at 1:30AM. Median concurrency for the day was 41,563. The Grid Stability Index (broken link due to a technical issue. See below) for the day was 2.23 (lower is better). The Second Life grid suffered from two large-scale failures today. First, part or all of the San Francisco colocation facility went dark, knocking 1,110 Second Life simulators offline. Taking place in the early hours of the morning, there was not as great an impact to users as the ISP services failure suffered through the afternoon. OnRez delivered an optional update to their custom Second Life viewer, though this was marred somewhat by a temporary site failure. Launches never go smoothly, and we've had a bit of a glitch with the Second Life Insider content that we link back to. You see, the RSS feed for SLI was supposed to be redirected over to the Second Life category here on Massively. In a bit of an eleventh hour cock-up, the whole side got redirected back here, breaking the content links we've got back to that site, and comments for posts there and so forth. The Massively team offers apologies. We're trying to get this fixed up as soon as possible - but it might not be able to be sorted until Monday. We're very sorry for the problem and will restore that site and its content as soon as possible. [UPDATE: 10:30AM ET - The issue with the broken redirect is sorted out, and older content is now viewable again]
Second Life "Wonderland" scandal hits mainstream media
UK media outlets are blowing up with stories of "Wonderland", a virtual playground in Second Life where Ageplay is the go. Sister-site Second Life Insider has been following the various stages of this story over the last day, including its growing coverage by mainstream press and the reply from SL developers Linden Lab.For those who need a little background, Ageplay is when an adult roleplays a child. This need not be for sexual purposes, but to use the quote from SL Insider of Sky News reporter Jason Farrell, "Wonderland is a virtual children's playground where paedophiles cruise and kids are solicited." Even though there probably aren't real children controlling the characters, it is still an offensive community for others within SL, and a Kid Avs community representative has already spoken out about it. It is also something that SL fans wouldn't want to be mistakenly associated with -- now that it has hit the mainstream, it may be one of the first things that people remember about Second Life, akin to "Oh, wasn't that the computer game for pedophiles?".The response Linden Lab provided to SL Insider essentially says that they have found no wrongdoing after investigating the Wonderland community. I'm not sure how well the rest of the media will take this answer. Provided below is a link to SL Insider's on-going coverage of this story as it develops.
Second Life Insider Week In Review: 10/15 - 10/21
This is the weekly roundup of the best articles from the past week's events on Second Life Insider. Crazy New CSI:NY CommercialThe first commercial was promising, but this one... Movable Life wants your workAlways read the fine print! Thursday's FictionsA surreal dance fantasy film gets the Second Life treatment Beware! He Walks Among Us!A member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation enters SL, ready to answer questions Hamlet's Top 5 Highlights from the VW ConfHamlet Au, embedded SL reporter, gives his top 5 highlights of the Virtual Worlds Conference VW Conf Fallout: Microsoft Getting Into the Biz?Is Microsoft ready to provide its own virtual world? Armani Screws UpArmani's new SL shop fails for lack of, well, everything Renaud on virtual world interoperability - relax and be patientThe Chief Architect of Networked Virtual Environments for the Cisco Technology Center advises patience Second Life Avatars Controlled by the Human BrainAn amazing step forward in controller technology NBC's The Office to feature Second LifeThe Office comes to SL
Macworld coverage in Second Life
There are a lot of ways to cover the keynote, but Mac-Essentials has a neat twist. They're using an island in Second Life shaped like the Apple logo to convene continuous coverage of the event in real time. I visited the island and found a cool mockup of the Apple glass cube store you find in Manhattan, plus a bunch of folks speaking German. Makes sense, as Mac-Essentials.de is a German website! Of course in Second Life, there are folks from all over the world. Even if you don't speak the language, the apfelland is a neat tourist site today! To find it, either search your map for apfelland or go to coordinates 128/128/0.[thanks geezer!]
A hearty Joystiq welcome for Second Life Insider
Spend too much time in Second Life, away from real life? That's cool but, as part of any healthy, SL regimen, Joystiq recommends you log off every 16 hours to rest your eyes checking blogs about Second Life. To assist you in this endeavor, we've assembled a stellar troupe of Second Lifers to serve as tour guides to your virtual home away from home, including Aimee Weber, Akela Talamasca, Caliandris Pendragon, and our very own Jennie Lees Local Jezebel. They've been at it for some time, pre-launch, so head over to Second Life Insider and check out what's been happening.
